The Cowboys talked with CeeDee Lamb’s representation over the phone Thursday in an attempt to finalize a deal, Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News reports.
The team has offered the receiver slightly under $33 million per season, per Watkins. That would push the annual average ahead of Philadelphia’s A.J. Brown ($32 million) but behind Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson ($35 million) among players at the position.
Lamb is not asking to top Jefferson, something Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones has acknowledged, but he wants to be in the neighborhood.
Lamb played last season for a base salary of $2.52 million and is scheduled to play this year on the $17.991 million fifth-year option. He had a career year last year with a league-leading 135 catches for 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns in earning All-Pro honors for the first time.
The Cowboys have not seen Lamb since last season ended as he skipped the offseason program and is holding out of training cap, which now is in its 25th day.
“CeeDee is going to be ready,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said, via Watkins. “If the system were different, that always adds different challenges. He knows what we do. He and Dak [Prescott] have what I would say 1,000 to 10,000 banked reps together.”